A Family Emergency

I am going to have to suspend the posting of the series on the Book of Revelation. A family crises has arisen that will take much of my time in the coming days. Please check back. I will try to keep you posted.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 41 – Ch. 17:1 – 19:3

World-class cities are wonders to behold. Like ancient Rome, eschatological Babylon will be impressive in many ways. She will also be characterized by all manner of wickedness.

“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!” reads Revelation 18:2, and the verses that follow detail her demise. Because the future of this place is not good, this warning is given in 18:4:

 “Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins…”

What is being made clear is that you don’t want to be contaminated by the lifestyle of this corrupt capital.

I suppose the moral filth of this place will be similar to the filth found in today’s cities, only magnified many times over.

Filth—that word was used in 17:4, where it states that the woman in purple and scarlet “held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.”

This warning regarding these revolting elements of the Antichrist’s capital has to also have connotations for today. To me it seems appropriate to ask myself if there are ways I presently participate in the enemy’s indecencies. I need to regularly be checking to make sure that as a follower of Jesus I don’t mirror any of these offensive practices in my thoughts and actions.

Sins have a strange attraction. If they didn’t, people wouldn’t be drawn to them. But its pleasures are brief compared to the damages that result from them. So ask yourself if there are ways you possibly share in the enemy’s filth. If the answer is yes, the time to make changes is not in a day when the Antichrist’s power is at its zenith, but now.

Take action when the presence of the risen Christ is near, and His forgiveness can be experienced following your confession of wrongdoing, and your stated desire to once again walk the way of Christ.

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 40 – Chapter 17:1-18

The prostitute in Revelation 17 is in reality “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” This city is drunk not with the blood of Hebrews as was Babylon, but with the blood of “those who bore the testimony of Jesus.” The question, of course, is what city is this?

As Babylon was the head of the empire that earlier oppressed Judah, so in John’s time Rome was the capital city of the vast and powerful Roman Empire, which was known for persecuting Christians. Early believers would undoubtedly have seen this slutty woman as Rome.

From our current perspective, I believe John is referring to the city that will someday serve as the capital of the empire of the Antichrist. During his reign the earth will be marked by an explosion of evil, with many people being deceived.

Here’s a big word: eschatology. It simply means the study of the last things. In Christian theology, that involves the return and triumph of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, coupled with the defeat of Satan and his evil forces. So what John is alluding to here is eschatological Babylon. It’s the yet-to-be-revealed head of the Antichrist’s empire.

Like Berlin was to Hitler, this could be an already-existing city that is taken over for satanic purposes. Then again, maybe it’s a city yet to be built. But that’s what I understand this woman in scarlet and purple to be. There is not yet enough historical input to know this city’s identity. It’s referred to as Babylon, but we know that might not be its real name.

However glorious her early existence, her ultimate destiny is not good. That’s made clear in verse 16: “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.”

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.

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